Amanda Blitz

Amanda Blitz is a lawyer in Toronto, Canada, practicing Life Cycle Law™. She covers legal issues that involve birth and death, including, but not limited to, fertility law and wills & estates. She is a former national news anchor for CTV News Channel, with a MSc in Journalism from Columbia University and an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School. www.blitzlaw.ca

When my dad died I asked the rabbi 'why' and 'how' this could have happened. He said in time we would come to see it the other way around. Instead of looking at why did we lose him so soon, we would see how lucky we were to have him so long. It took a while to get there, but we have arrived.

My friend Chuck wants to kill himself. He is hoping if Bill C-14 does not pass in the Senate by June 6th, he will be able to legally commit suicide with the help of a doctor, thereby ending his constant, debilitating and painful battle with mental illness. Chuck is part of a group of patients who, despite being included in the Supreme Court of Canada's ground-breaking decision in Carter vs. Canada, have been cut out of the Liberal's Bill C-14. Here's why.

Our elected leaders are hopefully digging deep and trying to figure out what the right path is for Canada on Bill C-14: the Liberal's legislation on medically assisted dying. It's not an easy task. It may be the most important piece of legislation some of these MPs ever vote on. It's remarkable that our country has even gotten to this point in the first place, but we need to take it slow.